About 30 years ago, I went from a top to front loader and recently installed my 3rd washer. The 1st two were on a pedestal offering the height advantage for loading/unloading. In my experience, the pedestal disadvantage is occasional excessive vibration which I believe may be due to the raised height of the spinning drum that accentuates vibration. We noticed this about 10% to 20% of the time even though the washer had a “load balancing” feature.
Our current washer has no pedestal and over the past year, there have been no vibrating issues so I’ll trade the stooping to load/unload the machine in order to eliminate unbalanced spin cycles.
It has been pointed out to leave the door open between uses and I suggest the same with the soap dispenser door as well because with our 1st washer, we left it closed only to later find mold behind the dispenser inside the compartment area.
With that said, I will never go back to a top loader. Not only do you save on water but you use less soap as well. Also, because the high speed spin cycle removes more moisture, you’ll also save on your dryer energy cost.
The two advantages I see in a front loader are faster drying time and a larger capacity. And maybe they are more gentle.
But all this talk about leaving them open, mold growing, etc. is really giving me cold feet. Getting a front-loader would save me my once-yearly trip to the laundromat to wash my summer quilt. But is it worth it? We recently had to buy a new fridge because my (adult) daughter left the door open to the basement fridge, and everything defrosted and rotted. (and we couldn’t take it apart enough to get the stench of rotten meat out.) I don’t want another appliance that you need to use right every single time.
And on an energy efficiency (or cost/use) basis, having to buy a new machine in 3 years instead of 15 would be worse for my budget and for the environment than using extra water and gas in each load.
If they get all moldy and disgusting if someone closes the door all the way and no one notices for a week, then yes, the lifespan would only be 3 years in my household. I can’t rely on my daughter to be careful about stuff like that.
I have HE top loader. I like it fine though once it’s engaged the lid locks. It unlocks after a minute or two to give one a chance to add an item. If you don’t catch it unlocking at the start you missed your chance to add more stuff. You can cancel the wash but it’s press and hold repeatedly until it stops altogether.
So you cannot lift the lid at anytime. And no water flows until the lid is locked. I would sometimes use the water to rinse stuff while it fills, no more. And it makes noises you may not be used to but overall it’s a much quieter operation.
When we first got ours, we bought Affresh to keep it from getting mold. You can get powder that goes in the drawer like detergent, or tablets that go right in the drum. I think the cycle was TCL (tub cleaner). I’m not advising that particular brand is better, just giving an example of the type of product.
Ours has another filter—lint filter on the washer, I’m thinking—that needs to be drained occasionally.
Having had service people at the house for various reasons, the topic actually comes up. A guy was fixing our dishwasher and noticed we had LG washer dryer. “Are you happy with that?” he asked, like he suspected we wouldnt be.
It seems that the local opinion is that tub cleaning is BS…just don’t close the door all the way and mold can’t get a foothold. One pointed out that ours has a magnet that keeps it closed enough that it isn’t in the way but air can still circulate. But if you live in a place where it’s constantly humid, I imagine it’s more of a problem.
Well, I have, and it was an expensive lesson. The main bearing went on my LG front loader after about 7 years, as noted in my post #13 above, and it wasn’t worth fixing. I got a Maytag top loader to replace it, and I much prefer it. It’s been working flawlessly for about 2 1/2 years now.
They certainly were two years ago, and undoubtedly still are available. Back when I was shopping for my LG replacement, back in March, 2018, the center agitator types were about as common as the bottom wash-plate types and seemed to be to be much more effective. They’re not exactly “old school”, either – the Maytag I got uses high efficiency (HE) detergent and fills up with only as much water as necessary (though there is a setting to fill the tub if you so desire) and the center agitator, though full-height, appears to be of a modern design. While a front-loader may indeed be gentler on clothes, this one has never torn anything and I suspect the combination of being constantly soaked and well agitated makes for better cleaning than a front-loader. (The agitation seems to go through different speeds on this Magtag as it cycles, and they are generally slower (i.e.- gentler) than the old top loader I had in the previous house.)
I did indeed leave the door always open on my LG front-loader for just that reason (and usually pulled out the tray of detergent/bleach dispensers, but that’s less important). But I always the leave the door open on my top-loader, too, though it’s less essential. And mold isn’t the end of the world – you can always get tub sanitizers and do some manual cleaning as well if necessary – not fun, but certainly not a reason to throw out a perfectly good washing machine!! Seems like a problem easily solved with a reminder note to your daughter taped to the door.
FWIW: I bought my Maytag washer and (electric) dryer in 1992. Don’t jinx me, now, both are still problem free. I specifically chose models without electronic controls; I wanted easily repairable manual dials in case of problems with wet, vibrating components.
I admit to having my disagreements with this poster, but I agree with this 100% as the best advice so far in this thread. How to keep it simple is addressed in one or two other posts, but doing so will help a washer last longer (maybe not 30 years though).
We have an old-style top-loading Maytag with buttons and a dial and it still does the job; I don’t know how old it is, it was in the house when we bought it 16 years ago, I’d guess it’s at least 25 years old. I wouldn’t mind getting a new top loading HE washer (to save water, which I presume it would do) but everyone seems to say they break down after a few years and that so far has scared me off. I’m 70 and if I buy a new washer I don’t want to have to buy another one in this lifetime. If I do buy one, though, it’s going to be one with a minimum of electronics.
Our LG has a tub clean feature. We don’t use it often because we keep the door and soap drawer open when not in use, which negates most of the issues that cycle is meant to address.
We do a big whole-house clean a couple times a year and do the ‘tub clean’ then using Affresh tablets. I usually wipe down the inside of the rubber gasket with a bleach water solution as well. I’ll also pull out the soap dispenser – the whole drawer is removable – and scrub it with an old toothbrush and some Lysol solution in the sink. Again, not because of mold but just soap grime and the like. There is also an internal filter than needs to be cleaned from time to time. None of this is a big deal and just part of general seasonal home maintenance.
On our machine the door swings open as soon as it is unlatched. There’s an internal spring or something that prevents the door from closing inadvertently. If the door latches its because someone did it deliberately. So as long as you don’t close the door purposely after pulling the wash out after a cycle the door will stay open on its own.
We live in western Oregon, and humidity is thick here. We’ve never had mildew issues. The machine is 7 years old and still going strong.
As someone who doesn’t enjoy cleaning, and who has never in my life cleaned a washing machine, that sounds like a chore. Let’s just say it’s not selling me on the virtues of a front-loader.
Well, it’s nice to be able to put stuff on top of the washer (soap, clean clothes). But yeah, if my (3rd!) FL went out, I’d probably go TL and keep it simple. Those things last forever.
Nothing’s indestructible, but considering all this I would pay the $$$$ and get a top-of-the-line Miele or equivalent. The price will seem ludicrous, but I would expect to get 30 years out of it rather than need replacement after 10 years. Plus, you will get the savings of an A+++ efficiency rating major appliance.
Re: pedestals, the bottom of our side-load chamber is mid-shin. Not a problem for us, but backs and knees may vary.
Our dryer is stacked above, so if we raised it all up we’d have trouble accessing the dryer. Not an issue if it’s to the side.
I forgot to mention it but I went with a Maytag TL and have had zero issues. Initially I bought a pair of Kenmore’s, they kept sending the wrong dryer as it had a vent out the back but we needed a LH vent. FInally they said, uh that dryer doesn’t come with a lh vent. Then the washer arrives and its a He top loader, fine I wash and discover the damn machine starts the cycle over again 2 minutes after it completed the wash, So it would wash rinse repeat all day on the same load. And that issue was in the product remarks but I thought it was a fluke review. But the same thing was wrong mith my washer, such a clusterfuck ordering online, I went through 3 driers and a washer before I said take these mf’ers back, and send the maytags,
We have a Maytag front loader for a couple years and have been pretty happy with it. We used to have a Bosch front loader and had issues with it getting foul is the door was closed when not is use. Haven’t had that issue with the Maytag, not sure how much of that is design of the washer and how much is because we live in the desert now (as opposed to a temperate mid-Atlantic climate when we had the Bosch).
Really didn’t consider a top-loader since (1) the laundry room is pretty narrow and the extra horizontal surface on the front loader is handy and (2) here in the desert we are sensitive to water usage.
My parents have the laundry pair in the basement, with a top-loading washer. But given that they’re in their 80s, I’ve been encouraging them to explore getting a laundry pair installed in the pantry on the main floor, and in that case, a front loader would allow the space above to still be used as a pantry. I think Europeans often have the machine or machines (sometimes a combined washer/dryer) in the kitchen and again, being able to have it below the countertop is useful.
We had a front-loading Asko that just died after 22 years, so we bought another one, which does indeed have a computerized interface. I don’t think I can recommend top load versus front load given I haven’t had a toploader in something like 25 years, but anecdotally I can tell you that our higher-end appliance lasted pretty long.
As far as its height goes, I’m a little over 6 feet tall, and never had an issue, but others’ mileage may vary.
